Elster Custom Ebrief No2 Final.

June 2015 1

FierceMarkets Custom Publishing

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ENABLING THE FUTURE: ADAPTIVE, MODULAR APPROACHES TO SMART GRID DESIGN


CORRESPONDING PAIN POINT: MANAGING COSTS FOR END-USERS

INTRODUCTION The electric grid of today is moving briskly toward a more interconnected and responsive whole. Poised to accommodate promising new opportunities for energy input and the changing demands of society, grid operators understand the need to use grid assets as a flexible platform for upgrades including more predictive operational sensing capabilities, integrating distributed energy resources, mitigating the impacts of future outages, and maintaining reliable and efficient energy delivery. A modular and adaptive approach to grid upgrades is breathing life into these changes in a less costly and more efficient way. Modular design allows for flexibility in placing grid components where theyre needed most, so operators can act on events directly at the device level instead of reacting once theyve already happened. Adaptive design emphasizes intelligent sensing and self-healing functionality. Combined, the two approaches reduce costs for utilities and end users by decoupling grid components so they can be used where theyre needed most, provide more intelligent sensing and proactive healing, and allow for more seamless upgrades.


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This smarter grid is expected to deliver savings of 400 billion kilowatt hours per year by 2030 a 9 percent more efficient grid nationwide according to the Smart Grid Consumer Collaborative (SGCC).

DECOUPLING AND MODULARIZING GRID FUNCTIONALITY (MODULAR APPROACH)A flexible grid is one that is ready to scale up and expand into the future. To that end, modular design is a flexible approach that allows for operational grid changes to be made more easily. Modularity is when components are easily moved around throughout the grid network, often to the device level, in order to sense and act on grid events more effectively. For example, moving sensing logic capabilities closer to a particular device at the grid edge will lead to more immediate feedback on voltage spikes. As the grid edge moves further out into a rural solar farm or home-based storage system, the need for modularity continues to grow. Modular design upgrades are beneficial in their ability to provide proactive feedback on grid events, as well as reducing costs by allowing utilities to choose a more efficient upgrade path with the fewest number of components. Achieving this often requires decoupling formerly bundled grid components and employing strong network communications. To unbundle components means to literally take application code or functionality and move it to areas in a utilitys extended network for increased operational efficiency. Separating out metering and measurement, application logic, and network transport is one such area for modularization. These functions have traditionally operated together centrally on grid networks without much ability to be deployed to the nodes and devices where they may be in higher demand. Disaggregating them reduces cost by allowing operators to move components closer to endpoints in the field where operational decisions can be made more quickly. I believe we can decouple metering and measurement and application logic that will

modularize what we can do with the smart grid, said Harris Glover, Vice President of Product Management, Elster. Decoupling application code from core metering and sensing logic will allow solution providers to move these algorithms around in the network, closer to devices it needs to act on instead of backhauling data to the head-end, perform the analysis and then transport decision data back to the field. In most cases, something detrimental has already occurred and the decision data is not relevant anymore

Elsters Connexo platform is built with modular architecture in mind, serving the needs of utilities as they gear up for operational, and even societal, changes that will reshape energy. By supporting modularity, Connexo allows grid operators to scale up operations and add new devices while reconfiguring or redeploying existing devices to other areas in the grid. All of this reduces cost while increasing satisfaction for utilities and their constituents.Strong network communication is also key. Streamlining those networks using modular components promotes the use of actionable data and reduces the amount of infrastructure to manage. According to Glover, decommissioning point- to point radios and having communications run across IPV6 based mesh networks also means fewer single points of failure by utilizing multipurpose mesh networks for multiple grid assets, not just metering. Connexo supports a variety of communication and backhaul options including compatibility

As the grid edge moves futher out into a rural solar farm or home-based storage sytem, the need for modularity continues to grow.


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with existing systems from RF mesh, point-to-point, point-to-point cellular, Ethernet, fiber, and more making it easier to phase-in new network communication changes in a way that works with a utilitys budget and timetable.

INTELLIGENT SENSING AND HEALING (ADAPTABLE APPROACH)An adaptable approach to grid design makes intelligent sensing and self-healing functionality a priority. The need for an adaptive grid has become more germane to the upgrade conversation as the grid accommodates more distributed energy resources and will increasingly have to be more things to more people. Adaptability is meaningful when it not only anticipates events, but can isolate such events from spreading throughout the network either reconfiguring problem areas automatically or providing operators with actionable information to do so. Increased reliability, including better meter and load management, are all benefits of a more adaptable grid.

If lofty goals like obtaining 33 percent of retail electricity in California from renewable power sources by 2020 or saving $600 per household are to be met, adaptable grid design will have to be used to maintain reliability in the face of tightening efficiency.

IT and OT (information technology and operational technology) will continue to

converge, presenting more opportunities to leverage the adaptable grid. Utilities that become technology first companies in the words of Brillio CTO Puneet Gupta will reap the benefits of adaptable design that can make sense of fast changing network data.

Exception-based processing also builds on adaptability, simplifying data within a user role and notifying utilities about problems in the system.

Some systems dont have exception-based processing and you have to dig through a lot of data to see what went wrong, Elsters Glover said in reference to the core systems utilities use in their day-to-day operations. Connexo has built-in design principals to make it easier. That leads to a reduction in cost and not needing an army of people to figure out what went wrong one person or a small team can run these complex networks.

While adaptability affords flexibility, it is still important to manage data through a single view that supports custom workflows. Robust offerings can grow to support RF and broadband mesh, cellular AMI, and the like.

I believe we can decouple metering and measurement and application logic that will modularize what we can do with the smart grid, Harris Glover, Vice President of Product Management, Elster.


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Connexo is the head end, manages all devices, and acts as the single point of view for various transports, all the different ways you connect devices, Glover said. It doesnt matter how its connected you focus on solving the problems, doing the analytics, and it helps you make your operational decisions.

The more easily system operators can track data and make use of the grids guided decision making, the better. Whether or not utilities become more akin to platform providers for a distributed energy system (in the spirit of New York States Reforming the Energy Vision), personnel and systems that anticipate grid events more actively will increase reliability while reducing their operating costs.

MORE SEAMLESS UPGRADES (MODULARITY AND ADAPTABILITY) Modular and adaptive design combined with open standards make it easier to choose from a wide variety of vendors at more competitive prices. Even if a utility is upgrading to the next-generation component from the same vendor, modularity and standards like MultiSpeak help make those enhancements more seamless and cost efficient.

Standards-based methods and modularity for interacting with external-based systems (billing, customer information, etc.) will change the time and money spent on custom application development, said Glover. It will make dependent systems more resilient to changes that Elster and others will make. By going to standards-based specifications like MultiSpeak, we insulate downstream systems from the complexities of us making changes, cutting down on the need for hot-fixes to system compatibility issues arising from the introduction of new components from different vendors.

A customer buys an MDM or CIS and we write custom code to integrate them to our head end system. If something changes under the covers, release to release, or we or the customer wants to go to another vendor, the whole integration would cease to work properly, Glover explained. But with our dedication to MultiSpeak and other standards, we insulate customers from those dependencies.

On the consumer side of the equation, standards are being set for demand response-ready appliances that make use of modular communication interfaces

Connexo is the head end, manages all devices, and acts as the single point of view for various transports, all the different ways you connect devices, Glover said. It doesnt matter how its connected you focus on solving the problems, doing the analytics, and it helps you make your operational decisions. Harris Glover, Vice President of Product Management, Elster.


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Elster Solutions is the North American electricity business unit of Elster, a multi-national, 7500-person company providing electricity, gas and water meters and related communications, network and software solutions to customers in more than 130 countries. Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, Elster Solutions is focused on delivering the vital connections utilities need to achieve the greatest possible value from their meter data.

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when the time comes for utilities to upgrade and interface with these systems. A standard that has been informed and driven by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the CEA-2045 Modular Communication Interface, offers compatibility with communication modules of any technology type. If the standard takes flight, it will slash costs for consumer appliance vendors and increase competition as vendors work toward building on the same modular platform.

Utilities like Duke Energy are evaluating CEA-2045 to understand how it will fit into their demand response strategy and interface with their own modular components.

CONCLUSION As modular and adaptive design approaches become more pervasive, so will their ability to solve hot-button technical issues. Building out systems in

a modular way sets utilities up for more intelligent sensing capabilities and adaptive response, meaning lower costs that will lighten the load for the network of power generators and distributors while passing on savings to residential and commercial customers. Where a modular approach is not yet possible, component vendors would benefit from getting a proof of concept out and keeping the momentum of the innovation process going. Utilities and their vendors can address cost and technology challenges when they partner more closely and with the support of regulators. As Audrey Zibelman, chair of the New York Department of Public Service recently said in regard to utilities and energy reform, Were making the utility the enabler of change instead of a deer in the headlights that says, I dont know where were going to go, but its not going to be here. n

Elster Custom Ebrief No2 Final.

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